A lot has happened over the last week. The Dallas Cowboys, like every NFL team, officially set their 53-man roster.
As is usually the case this was an initial version of it because of various adjustments that had to be made. We saw that play itself out with the waiving of Joe Milton, the claiming of Emari Demarcado, and before either of those the trades involving Broderick Jones (in) and Nate Thomas (out).
Roster cuts are often an emotional experience for people. When your pet cat makes it you feel
like you won the lottery. The other side of that coin is that when he is cut you feel personally impacted. Dallas entered that period with a high approval rate for recent moves, but some of their cuts maybe burned a bit of it up. Given that the Broderick Jones trade was not well-received from a compensation standpoint and some of the proverbial wind has been lost behind the sails.
As we have had a few days to sit on it, I have come to a realization personally: I am great with all of this.
How many times have we talked about how notoriously inactive the Cowboys are in certain aspects of roster-building? Think of all of the years we have implored them to be more active in these types of areas.
When you swing over and over and over again you are going to realize that batting 1.000 is tough work. We are looking for .300 here, a respectable mark, and more than anything the willingness to keep getting in the box.
For all we know the Broderick Jones trade could even work out wonderfully and the C grade it received won’t even matter. In the aftermath of that deal there was some mild panic about Dallas having only four draft picks (quantitatively speaking) for next year, and you know what? I also love that.
I love that the Cowboys were not averse to the deal because it would leave them shy for 2027 (they did pick up a seventh a day after the Jones trade by dealing Nate Thomas). I love that they, seemingly, trust themselves to figure it out when that time comes. The time at the moment pertains to 2026 and they have to stand in and take pitches, and most importantly they have to swing at the ones they like. Being shy about them because of how it might impact their batting average or what it could mean for the next at-bat, or heck even next season’s, isn’t prudent.
Everything about this season continues to remain a breath of fresh air. Famous last words and all of that for obvious reasons, but right now this team seems to get it in some of the most important ways.
